Thread: J. Gregg for Commerce Sec?

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gre ... 01-30.html

Gregg's stances on immigration similar to Obama's
By Bob Cusack
Posted: 01/30/09 09:45 AM [ET]

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who is under consideration to be nominated as Commerce secretary, has supported contentious immigration legislation that sharply divided his party.

President Obama's Commerce secretary is expected to play a major role in immigration reform discussions. Gregg has attracted criticism in conservative circles for his stance on immigration, including a vote in 2006 for a bill that Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) called "the most far-reaching immigration reform in our history." The legislation, which would have allowed millions of illegal immigrants to stay in the country and ultimately earn citizenship, later died in conference.

In June of 2007, Gregg and 63 other senators backed a motion to support proceeding to debate on another wide-ranging immigration bill that his many of his Republican colleagues condemned as offering “amnestyâ€

But some of Gregg's votes will not sit well with some backers of comprehensive reform.

The senior senator from New Hampshire supported building a border security fence along the Mexican border and in 2007, he voted against cloture on Sen. Dick Durbin's (D-Ill.) bill that would have provided a path to legal residency for children of illegal immigrants and made them eligible for federal student-loan and work-study programs. The motion needed 60 votes, but fell eight short. Twelve Republicans voted for cloture on that motion, as did Obama.

Either must not be doing enough? The fencing not doing enough for us; and the other enough for him.

Gregg has also teamed up with Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) on a bill that seeks to address H2B visa shortages for seasonal workers.

Unfortunately that woman is my senator. Anyone that sides with Mikulski is an open border lover and a traitor to all Americans. We need to stop him from getting any position on the Obama team.

If Gregg is appointed, it will just open up another Senate seat for the Democrats to take now.